Searcher’s Surprise: The Streets You Know … The People You Don’t

Saul David Kleinfeld

Before I received a request recently, I had never given much thought to the person behind this well-known street name (if you spend much time on the eastside of town). Saul Kleinfeld. Two words to most, but not many of the people driving down the street know the life that he led. His permanent resting place is in B’nai Zion Cemetery.

Previously from Passaic, New Jersey, Saul Kleinfeld was involved in multiple sports at the high school level. An interesting article covering his retirement in the local paper tells an anecdote of how he came to be in El Paso. Apparently, he and his wife, Barbara, were hitchhiking to California where they planned on moving to from New Jersey. As a stop, they went over to Juarez and had a large steak dinner for only 35 cents and they decided to stay in El Paso.

His interest in sports continued into his life in El Paso. He became one of the biggest promoters for amateur sports. Union Furniture Company, where he worked at from his move to El Paso until his retirement was a sponsor for multiple amateur sports teams of which Kleinfeld had supported in multiple capacities. Additionally, many of the teams competed at high levels. This is most especially true for the Union Furniture Company Basketball Team.

The team was a regular opponent of the Harlem Globetrotters when they were in town. The Union Furniture Co. Basketball team also played the Mexican and Russian Olympic basketball teams. According to Ray Sanchez, Kleinfeld’s recollection of the game against Russia was quite tense. The Russian team had agreed to play them at the Monumental Bullring in Juarez for a fee of $1,500 dollars in 1971. When they tried to ask for more money after seeing the gathered crowd, Kleinfeld held his ground with the assistance of the Mexican police. While the team lost, he did win the argument.

Another endeavor of Kleinfeld’s was the Downtown Optimist Club’s Little Boy Blue and Sister Too which he directed and raised funds for 35 years. This picnic was a major event for orphaned or underprivileged children in El Paso and Juarez (Sanchez, 1989). These activities and many others show how active Kleinfeld was in the El Paso community.  

References

El Paso Herald Post.

El Paso Public Library. (2019). CVF -- KL-KZ.

Rhodes, Star. (2017). Saul David Kleinfeld. Retrieved from https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/186129595/saul-david-kleinfeld

Sanchez, Ray. (1989). El Paso’s greatest sports heroes I have known. El Paso, TX: The Sunturians Press.